Press releases

Joint press release from the OAG, fedpol, and the NCSC - In recent months, the hacker group AKIRA has stepped up its activities in Switzerland. Around two hundred companies have been victims of ransomware attacks, with damages currently amounting to several millions of Swiss francs, and to several hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. Since April 2024, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has been conducting criminal proceedings. The investigation is being coordinated by the Federal Office of Police (fedpol), in close cooperation with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the authorities in several other countries that are affected. The Swiss authorities stress the importance of contacting them before taking any action and of the need to file a criminal complaint.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has issued a summary penalty order sentencing Banque J. Safra Sarasin SA (hereinafter: Banque Safra) to a fine of CHF 3.5 million for failing to take all reasonable and necessary organisational measures to prevent the commission or attempted commission of aggravated money laundering acts between November 2011 and May 2014, for a total amount of approximately USD 71 million. Banque Safra having also paid a settlement amount of CHF 16 million to Petrobras, private claimant in the proceedings, the OAG has not ordered a compensatory claim. The OAG also sentenced a former employee of Banque Safra to a six months’ suspended custodial sentence for aggravated money laundering acts committed between November 2011 and July 2014 while working for another Swiss bank, involving a total amount of USD 29.2 million.

At the conclusion of criminal proceedings initiated in November 2022, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has issued a summary penalty order and partial abandonment of the proceedings. The OAG sentenced J.P. Morgan (Suisse) SA (JP Morgan Suisse) to a fine of CHF 3 million for failing to take all reasonable and necessary organisational measures to prevent acts of aggravated money laundering. The fund transfers took place between October 2014 and July 2015. The outbound transactions totalled approximately CHF 174 million. This conviction is part of a series of proceedings conducted by the OAG relating to the embezzlement of assets from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The private claimant in the case, 1MDB, stated that it will be compensated in the amount of MYR 1.4 billion. For this reason, the OAG has not ordered a compensatory claim.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has been conducting criminal proceedings since 2022 in the matter of a large-scale phishing series. Fake e-banking login pages had been used to defraud numerous Swiss bank customers, resulting in losses of around CHF 2.4 million. In this context, the OAG took over about thirty cases from the cantons. The investigations conducted by the OAG and fedpol led to the identification and location of the developer and distributor of phishing kit in the UK. The case was taken over by the British authorities, who were already conducting similar proceedings against the individual involved. He was sentenced by a court in the UK on 23 July 2025 to seven years imprisonment. This success demonstrates the importance of international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) initiated criminal proceedings against persons unknown in response to a spate of DDoS attacks targeting a number of federal websites in June 2023, for which the pro-Russian collective "NoName057(16)" claimed responsibility. In the spring of 2025, several members of this collective could be identified following an extensive international investigation to which the OAG and fedpol contributed significantly. The OAG has broadened the criminal proceedings to include three ringleaders of this collective and issued warrants for their arrests. The operators of the more than 200 Swiss websites targeted where feasible received prior warning and support in warding off the attacks from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The whole process can be considered a success story, highlighting the value of international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) filed an indictment against a Kosovar national suspected of having acted as leader (Emir) of the Swiss chapter of a Kosovar terrorist organisation, and of also having been a member of its executive committee in Kosovo. The suspect is accused of having carried out, primarily in the Geneva region, activities related to indoctrination, financing, and the recruitment of new members on behalf of the aforementioned terrorist organisation. These activities are believed to have been carried out with the support of a second suspect. Both suspects are also believed to have disseminated the ideology of the terrorist organisation ‘Islamic state’, including during their regular meetings, as well as independently in the case of the second suspect. Through these acts, the two individuals are suspected of having simultaneously promoted the organisation’s ideology and supported the terrorist group ‘Islamic state’.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has issued a summary penalty order against a former relationship manager at Banque Pictet et Cie SA (Pictet Bank), sentencing him to a six-month suspended custodial sentence for acts of aggravated money laundering. Pictet Bank was sentenced to a fine of CHF 2 million for failing to take all reasonable and necessary measures to prevent these acts from being committed. The criminal investigation established that between June 2010 and May 2013, funds totaling more than USD 4.1 million originating from corrupt payments were transferred from the account of a Brazilian public official at Pictet Bank with the aim of concealing their criminal origin.

On 15 April 2025, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland brought charges before the Federal Criminal Court against an Italian citizen residing in the Canton of Aargau for participation in and support of a criminal organization. In particular, the 58-year-old man is accused of having acted, at least between 2001 and 2020, as a contact person for the 'Ndrangheta Anello-Fruci clan in Swiss territory and having facilitated the development of the latter’s interests in Switzerland. The accused is also charged with several of offences, including importing, purchasing, and storing of counterfeit money, handling of stolen goods, violation of the Federal act on weapons, weapon accessories and ammunition, and violation of the federal narcotics act.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has filed an indictment against a 21-year-old Swiss citizen in accelerated proceedings before the Federal Criminal Court. The defendant is suspected of having supported the proscribed terrorist group ‘Islamic state’ (IS), in particular by planning a trip to Somalia in order to join IS there. He is also alleged to have sent IS propaganda material to various recipients and to have possessed depictions of violence.

In 2024, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) obtained several ground-breaking convictions in the fields of international criminal law, national security, terrorism and white-collar crime. Summary penalty orders imposed on international commodities companies and the first trial of a company in the Federal Criminal Court for the bribery of foreign public officials are proof that Swiss corporate criminal law is effective. However, additional legal instruments would make criminal prosecution in this field far more efficient and effective. In its efforts to guarantee Switzerland’s long-term internal security, the OAG is reliant on the Federal Criminal Police being able to provide a sufficient number of investigators.

On 20 March 2025, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, France’s Parquet National Financier (PNF) and the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) affirmed their shared commitment to tackling international bribery and corruption. To strengthen their cooperation, the three partners signed a ‘Founding Statement’ that includes the establishment of a task force.

By means of a summary penalty order dated 27 February 2025, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) finds that Morgan Stanley (Switzerland) GmbH, respectively its predecessor Bank Morgan Stanley (Switzerland) AG, did not take all necessary and reasonable organisational measures when conducting its business activity to prevent one of its client advisors from committing qualified money laundering in the year 2010 involving assets that originally stemmed from acts of bribery in Greece. With the present summary penalty order, the OAG orders Morgan Stanley (Switzerland) GmbH to pay a fine of one million Swiss Francs and brings the matter to a close.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has indicted a Swiss citizen in the Federal Criminal Court on charges of insider dealing in transactions worth millions of francs. The indictment alleges that in five cases in the period from 2018 to 2020, the accused exploited confidential and price sensitive information about ongoing or planned takeovers. By doing so, he is believed to have made an unlawful profit of around CHF 10.6 million. He is alleged to have obtained the confidential information from an acquaintance of many years standing who worked for an investment bank.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has brought charges before the Federal Criminal Court against two Swiss nationals aged 22 and 28. The OAG alleges that the two residents of Canton Zurich, who have prior convictions, initially supported the banned terrorist group ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and then subsequently became members. They are accused of having intended to travel to Syria to join IS there. Furthermore, they are alleged to have carried out extensive propaganda activities for the benefit of IS as well as providing financial support to IS.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has filed an indictment with the Federal Criminal Court against a 40-year-old Serbian national and two Swiss nationals aged 22 and 42. The 40-year-old and the 22-year-old men are accused of being involved in blowing up a cash machine in Hettlingen in the canton of Zurich in December 2022 and causing considerable damage to property. The third accused will stand trial for assisting the offenders in connection with the attack on the cash machine.

In July 2023, the cantonal police in Strengelbach stopped four people in the canton of Aargau. Upon closer inspection, explosives were found on them and seized. The area had to be cordoned off, attracting a great deal of public attention. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has filed an indictment with the Federal Criminal Court against the four people stopped and subsequently arrested in June 2023, as well as another accused. In particular, the OAG accuses them of explosives-related offences, presumably with the intention of blowing up cash machines in Switzerland.

Following its criminal investigation, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG), on 26 November 2024, filed an indictment at the Federal Criminal Court against Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA and one of its former employees, accusing them of aggravated money laundering. The bank and its former employee are suspected of having played a decisive role in enabling the concealment of the proceeds of «The Office», set up by Gulnara Karimova and considered by the OAG as a criminal organization.